Hey gang – I Hope you’ve all enjoyed the Holidays.
We had a GREAT few days, my family all met in Knoxville, TN for a long weekend where my brother & sister-in-law live, we had a great time, relaxed and just enjoyed TIME together….the best gift we could give this year

Anyway- we’re back now and on the plane home G fell asleep on my lap so I had some “down-time”. I love that – it’s actually forced “down-time”.

Do you make New Year Resolutions? I do and I love them. I love this time of the year, partially because it’s the quiet after the storm of work and Holidays, but also because I love goals. I love to look back at the year and make plans for the future. My brother is into goals (he’s a Chiropractor and also owns his own business in Tennessee). He “checks in” every week or month. I can’t do that – but I do love to WRITE goals for myself and check in on them every now and then…..

Here are a few of mine for 2008

* More interesting, interactive & personal blogging.
Care more about putting myself & my work “out there” and less about what impression I might give.

* Take 1 photo every day
Sounds crazy but I think it will be a huge creative challenge. Client stuff doesn’t count – this is one photo for ME, every day….anybody want to join me on this……D?

* Get back into shape & do more yoga, less planning on getting to yoga

* Daily devotions

* Run
….and not the Starbucks kind

* Teach
Gonna put this out there too – I have helped 2 other photographers start their own business like I did (moving from home to garage to studio) and since Christmas Magic this year I’ve literally had 5 people ask me for tips on photos or starting a business so I’m thinking of doing “A Day With Me”. I’m not pretending to be the know-all, but I can tell you what I did and try to help you avoid making the same mistakes I made if nothing else…..e-mail me if you’re interested in this blog-stalkers (I know 5 of you out there already) Besides – I so believe in giving it forward and I’ve had sooooooo much good advice given to me….maybe now it’s my turn….. still thinking on this one.

* InspirationJournal & do some of the stuff I have in it.

* New Studio location
I hope to have news on this one soon…….

*Feedback to Kelly, Laura & Chad
I have such great people that work for/with me, but I think if I could just SLOW the pace a bit and really spend quality time with them so we all have the same overall goal and vision my clients would reap the benefits.

*Don’t miss a friend or relatives Birthday this year.
Yes…..it’s sad, but I”m TERRIBLE at this!!!

….that’s pretty much it for now… at least that’s all I’m willing to share with the cyber-world.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~Micki

I have lots of fun stuff to do in 2008…Lots of goals, lots of ideas & lots to clean up! I anticipate a new studio (more on that soon) so I want to let everyone know I’ll be selling the negatives from “old shoots”.

$150 will get you every photo from any shoot.
$250 will get you your wedding negatives.

Please note: This only applies to pix taken up to and including last year’s photos. No 2007 photo negatives will be sold at this rate. I don’t do this every year, nor do I intend to do it every year, but as I anticipate a move and changes to my business I feel the need to SIMPLIFY & yes, that means get rid of photos that are years old. I’ve never thrown away old photos but now it’s time – so I will be sending out mass e-mails to give fair warning to all of you but thought I might as well get the word out there asap.

So – call or e-mail me if you’re interested in purchasing them – I’ll sign a copyright release and they’re all yours!

I will put a date on these and make it more official later but for now…. here is your heads up. My family is arriving soon so I’ll not be back blogging for the rest of the week so Happy New Year early!

~Micki

Hi all – I’ve literally not sat down to the computer in days! I have to admit it’s been wonderful and I’m ALMOST ready to get back to work……. but not quite. I did think that tonight I’d blog-stalk a few sites, respond to a few e-mails & touch base on my blog though – just for the fun of it.

So – Benoit Christmas has been fantastic. My in-laws arrived Friday around noon, now I know to many that’s stressful but I have to admit that I’m one of the lucky ones, they’re great. They spoil the kids and don’t expect anything as far as a clean house, organization or cooking…. I guess after spending 11+ years with me they know that a turkey a green bean casserole is about as good as it gets from my kitchen. We hung out and just played and relaxed. They left today to head back to CO and my parents will arrive from NM tomorrow!

Other than family visiting…. we’re just bonding with the Wii (yes – we got one & it’s official, I can’t play tennis in real life nor in cyber-land). And January 7th – wow – kids are back to school and work will resume!

Let’s see, what else? Gifts? I rocked it this year and got my man a wakeboard, sadly he can’t use it until the summer but it was fun actually surprising him and he got me a Lucky purse I’d been eyeing and (gulp) a PowerHouse gift certificate for some time with a personal trainer…..yes….I actually asked for this “gift”. It’s time, I miss being in shape so we’re gonna do something about it in 2008. More complaints to come I’m sure. The kids big gift this year was the Wii (by kids I mean Matt & I) and of course a multitude of stuff from all grandparents. We tried to really focus on “Christ”mas this year in a number of different ways & it felt good.

Ok – well, I’m whitening my teeth, deep conditioning my hair and got a face masque on that makes me look like something from a scary horror movie. The kids are in bed asleep (did anyone else have kids stay up past midnight last night trying to catch Santa!??!) so I’m gonna go sit and read for a bit I think.

I hope everyone had a Merry & Blessed Christmas and is enjoying in the after-glow of the day.
God Bless.
Micki

So….now….here is a little of MY Holiday Humor for ya. If ever you’re looking for a reason NOT to work for me, here it is.

Click HERE for Our Christmas Fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR & GOD BLESS
~Micki, Kelly, Laura & Chad with M.Benoit Photography

Yeah….. they’re not in the mail yet.

I don’t usually send out Christmas cards to local friends, don’t know why really, I guess just because my parents never did. My dad had “Christmas letter rules” that stuck too….your letter can only be 1 page long, more humor than bragging and no sadness. As you’ll see…I’m a lot like my dad.

Anyway, I’ve SO ENJOYED getting cards from friends here in town, I might have to change my policy but for now….here is my card and letter! Sorry to those of you who are long-distance-blog-stalker-friends who will be getting this same card and letter sometime between now and New Years.

For those of you who are blog-stalker-local-friends/clients…..I love ya.

Merry Christmas 2007!

Another year! This year we didn’t do anything amazing, didn’t go anywhere exotic, and we don’t have any big news…. we were blessed with a year of being on cruise control as far as the journey of life goes. As always though, we did learn a few “Benoit family life lessons”!

For example, did you know that a 2nd grader can sometimes spell better than a 35 year old (not that I’d know), a 4 year old can be brave enough to kneeboard & a trampoline can fly over two houses in 92mph winds? We learned that a “family sleep-over” in the living room can be as rewarding for the parents as it is fun for the kids and that vacations with friends & family beat destination vacations. As our kids grow, the life lessons they teach us only get better & better with time.

Anyone who has a girl may have already discovered a few things we just learned from Madelyn this year. For instance, we learned that you sometimes have to try on 3 outfits to find “the one” on show & tell day, getting your ears pierced will elicit a scream similar to that you might expect from a razor being thrust under your fingernail, and that despite your best efforts, High School Musical 2 songs can stay in your brain for days. You probably also know that there is no such thing as “too much chapstick” and yes..2nd grade boys write love note & have cooties.

Those of you who have raised boys probably already know a few of the things Garrett taught us this year. You can, for instance, give a play-by-play report on the making of (& be very proud of the size of) a good BM & after a really good long nap….if the bathroom is too far away it’s ok to just pee in the kitchen trashcan. You also know that Cheetos make for a good for breakfast, “firefighter-guys” are waaay cool & yes… it is indeed the best toy God ever gave you.

As you can see our kids continue to teach us more about life than any book could, & hopefully we’ll pass some wisdom onto them as well. We hope that, through our experiences this year alone, they’ll learn that cellphones don’t work after you waterski with them in your pocket, lost keys can be found in the freezer and that big decisions can be decided with rock/paper/sissors. Also, Daddies can complain about putting up Christmas lights … every year, & Mommies can ignore it … every year.

Like our faith, our kids continue to grow and God-willing, we’ll report more of the same next year. We have been blessed to have a lot simple pleasures in our lives. We work hard, but we also play & laugh a lot (mostly at our own expense). We hope that this letter find you and your family with the same blessings, the same laughter (as self-depricating as it may be) and many, many future life lessons.

God Bless & Merry Christmas from the Benoit Family,
Matt, Micki, Madie (7) & “G” (4) … or as he would say, “Pour…but I’m Pive in January!”

I know… it’s some of my best work.

Well gang – work is finally starting to settle in, I’m doing more delivering than editing and yes, last night I went to bed BEFORE midnight!!!!

I wanted to take a personal moment to share a new tradition in our family that we LOVE. It was a gift from my brother & Aunt Carrie in Tennessee, evidently it’s “huge” there. It’s a book called “Elf on the Shelf” written by a mother/daughter team, Carol Aebersold & Chanda Bell. The book tells of the magic elf that sits in your home watching and observing…then every night he flys to Santa to report on your children’s behavior. He is magic, so he can’t talk to you, nor can you touch him, but every morning when the kids wake up he’s in a new spot (ok….sometimes the elf is tired so he sleeps at night and goes to see Santa during the day while they’re at school……) ANYWAY – my kids LOVE this and the book is fantastic. On Christmas Morning “Mr. Magic” (that’s our elfs name…) will fly to see HIS family and live with Santa until the day after Thanksgiving when he’ll return to us again.

Thanks to Aunt Carrie for a new Tradition and new fun in the Benoit house. For any of you who have young children, I HIGHLY recommend this book, it’s $30 or something and comes with the elf. Buy it for next year, or give it as a gift to friends with young kids. Some things we never outgrow – and for me – the magic of Santa is one of them.

~M

Merry Christmas friends & fellow-bloggers.
Peace.
M

Thanks gang for chilling out in the studio! We got some great stuff, we’ll do the fun outside stuff in the spring.

Sisters

So gang – weather isn’t cooperating with us as of late and I’m getting a lot of calls about gift certificates – so here are the answers.

Yes – I sell them and there is something physical you can wrap and give (thanks to Kelly -they’re cute and full of candy)

No – I have no limits on what you want to make them out for…..you can give friends sitting fees for them to use in the spring or you can give mom & dad $50 to spend on the photos we took of your family!

Yes – I will mail them to friends/family out of state and Yes – I have some here at the studio.

Yes – It’s a great gift.

Any more questions feel free to call me at #224-1951!